


December 4: purely by coincidence

by dizzy



Series: 2017 (the darkest timeline) daily fic advent [4]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 20:16:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12919458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: prompt:Phil and Jimmy meet at university. Start youtube together. Also start dating each other.(Sorry, anon - kinda veered off of your prompt. Hope you like it anyway!)





	December 4: purely by coincidence

The first time Phil sees Jimmy, he's walking between buildings at his university and he runs into a boy who doesn't know where he's going at all. 

Phil's a helpful sort of guy. He's made a lot of friends just by offering his advanced second year student knowledge walks up to the boy and says, "Hi, I'm Phil! Can I help you find something!" 

"You probably can," the boy says. "Jimmy. That's my name, I mean. And I sure as fuck can't help myself, it seems." 

He tells Phil the building number that he's looking for. "Oh," Phil says, brightening up. "I think I had a class there last year." 

(He didn't, as it turns out, but he won't know he's sent Jimmy off twenty minutes in the wrong direction.)

*

The second time Phil sees Jimmy, he's drunk at a party and Jimmy is too. Jimmy catches his eye and waves and looks genuinely happy to see Phil. 

Phil could walk over to him. Phil could say hi. 

Phil thinks Jimmy is cute but Phil's not quite progressed past thinking into action, and he lets the moment go. 

*

The third, fourth, and fifth time Phil sees Jimmy are all random encounters on a campus spread over a year and a half. 

They smile if their eyes meet, just a momentary glimmer of recognition between them, but they do not talk. 

* 

The sixth time Phil sees Jimmy, he's looking at his computer screen. 

Jimmy does youtube. Jimmy makes videos just like Phil does. 

Phil spends hours binge watch every video that Jimmy's ever made. He follows Jimmy on twitter as well, and by the time he goes to bed feels giddy and pleased. Next time, he thinks, he'll definitely say hello. 

*

He doesn't see Jimmy again for three years. 

The next time is at a youtube meetup. Neither of them are drunk yet. It's still too early on for that. Jimmy's friends haven't even arrived, he's just standing around by himself looking awkward. 

Phil still can't bring himself to approach. There's a strangeness to how familiar he is with Jimmy, how many times he glimpsed him across a building or walking in the opposite direction on campus, how many times they've tweeted each other or commented on each other's videos. 

Right now it feels like a positive connection and he's enjoyed the soft fizzle of it for so long, he's afraid he'll open his mouth and ruin it all. 

Luckily Jimmy's got more balls than Phil. He bounds up with enthusiasm, gives Phil a hug without checking to make sure if Phil even minds (he doesn't) and makes a joke about how it's so weird they've been stalking each other for years. 

"Yeah," Phil says, and he's still thinking about how Jimmy hugged him but Jimmy starts talking about Phil's new video and it's entirely the kind of circle jerk that these things always end up being but he's still not cool enough to play it off when a cute boy, especially this cute boy, likes his stuff. 

They spend an hour chatting and splitting a basket of chips until Jimmy's friends arrive. Before they part ways, Jimmy gives Phil his number. 

*

They talk more regularly, but the eighth time Phil sees Jimmy doesn't happen until he moves to London after a series of fortuitous events in the life of Phil Lester, none of which were premeditated or even really all that sought after. 

He didn't actually try to get the BBC's attention, it was youtube that did that. 

He didn't plan on moving to London, but he wasn't going to say no to the offer. 

He didn't mean to bump into Jimmy in a press tent backstage at Reading festival, but Jimmy's working for 4 Music now and Phil's with Radio 1 and they've both got interviews lined up tonight. 

"You're my competition!" Jimmy says, sounding more delighted than anyone should. 

"Not much competition," Phil says. "I've never done this before. I'm terrified." 

"You'll be fantastic, mate." Jimmy rubs his shoulder. "You're AmazingPhil, after all." 

*

When the interviews are done they both have just the right amount to drink and chat to each other the whole time they watch the bands play. 

Nothing happens that night, but Jimmy makes Phil promise to his the number he knows is stored in Phil's phone. Phil knows with the sort of awareness that comes from having done this a few times now what the look on Jimmy's face means.

So he does use the number when they're back in London. They text, and then text more, and they meet up for drinks. 

Phil stops keeping count after that. 

*

Phil didn't mean to fall in love with a boy who has been circling his life since he was barely in his twenties. 

But he's thirty now and he's got a house with walls he painted himself and cabinets Jimmy spent days installing. 

Sometimes they bicker about how they really need to finish renovating the bathroom. (Jimmy could but doesn't care, Phil's not allowed to hold anything remotely tool related but desperately wants it finished with a nicer sink.) 

Sometimes they argue about if they're ready for a dog or not. (Jimmy's insistent that they aren't, but secretly would rather just skip to kids. Phil doesn't even know if he wants kids, but he spends an average of six hours a week looking at rescue websites.) 

Sometimes they debate if they should make a video for youtube since it's been months since their last upload. (Phil doesn't see the point, it's not as if they make any money off of it and their actual jobs exhaust them creatively. Jimmy insists it's nice to keep up traditions and he still enjoys the community.) 

It's not perfect but it's the closest thing to permanent Phil's felt outside of the walls of his family home, and he's not at all unhappy with it. 

*

They still work for different stations, and their schedules are almost complete opposites. It makes for a precious few hours in the day to spend together before one of them inevitably has to sleep or leave. 

"I've had a hard day, say something nice about me." Jimmy drops down onto the sofa with a melodramatic flop.

Phil shuts his laptop, taking a moment to enjoy the way Jimmy's shirt has ridden up over his stomach. He's been at the self-tanner again. Phil won't judge what shape the just-past-twenties crises come in, even if he's secretly amused. 

"You're my favorite boyfriend that's going to make me dinner tonight," Phil says. 

Jimmy groans. "Am _not_. Don't go telling filthy lies like that, Lester. I'll call your mum and say you're mistreating me again."

"Speaking of, she sent you flowers today." Phil pushes the chair away from his desk and stands up, stretching in a way that makes his spine pop. He hates the noise but it feels so good. 

Jimmy beams. "Did you put them in a vase?" 

Phil's mum and Jimmy bond over flowers, how they both like them fresh in vases to brighten up a home. Since Jimmy whinged about how Phil never buys them for him, and she commiserated over how Phil's dad doesn't buy her any either, they've just taken to randomly sending them to each other. 

"... forgot," Phil says, making a face. He stands by Jimmy and holds his hands out to help Jimmy onto his feet. Jimmy has to lean slightly up to loop his arms over Phil's neck and kiss him hello. 

"Useless," Jimmy says. "You're totally useless." 

"You're my favorite liar." Phil grins. The warmth simmers up from that place in his belly, that way only Jimmy's ever made him feel. "There's my nice thing." 

"I'll take it," Jimmy decides. He half-heartedly pushes at Phil's shoulders. "Go start some water boiling for pasta while I take care of these flowers from my lovely mum-in-law."

They're not married, they're not even engaged, but Jimmy always just says that's semantics. 

*

The first time Phil sees Jimmy, he's young and stupid and still figuring himself out. He saw a boy staring down at a sheet of paper looking bewildered, and he wanted to help - but he also wanted to see that boy from a little closer up, to see if he was just as cute as Phil suspected. 

Now he's older and he's still probably a bit stupid but at least he's figured this out - and he's glad for whatever kept Jimmy in his life until he did.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com)! or [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/alittledizzy)! or don't! your choice! happy holidays!


End file.
